


Old Friends

by fishpocalypse



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Awkward Conversations, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, First Dates, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Title taken from a Merrily song (cringe), not beta read we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28728336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishpocalypse/pseuds/fishpocalypse
Summary: Togami and Kirigiri go on their first official date together, and reminisce on their younger selves as they decide what to do going forward.
Relationships: Kirigiri Kyoko/Togami Byakuya
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> There are no trigger warnings for this fanfiction. This is also more of a G fic but I thought the general tone of it fit teens and up better.

He looked himself over once more in the mirror, nervously fiddling with the clasps on his tie. Nervousness was not a feeling that was familiar with Byakuya Togami, in fact, it was quite alien to the usual smug and confident air that follows him everywhere he goes. He wishes that familiar confidence was with him now as support for the night to come, but alas he could not seem to grasp it back from when Kirigiri looked him dead in the eyes and asked him out.

Come to think of it, Kirigiri had been rendering him speechless quite often as of late. It was a strange look on him, silence. Usually his bold personality and way of dress is enough to fill a room alone, an effect he was trying to achieve with his garb for the night. Turning back to the mirror, he starts to second guess what he chose to wear. God, if his dad could see him now. Questioning himself over something as trivial as a first date.

“ _It’s just Kiri, nothing to worry about_ ” He spoke to himself under his breath as a sort of self-reassurance, practiced over and over at the therapy sessions he's been attending.

His soft murmuring did nothing to calm his anxiety, however, so he instead opts to put his arms at his sides and move into the central area of his living space. He let his mind wander to what Kirigiri would be wearing to the event as his hands absentmindedly started himself a cup of coffee. If it would be any different than the plain but elaborate suit she wore to work every day, when they would debate each other who potential culprits could be before coming to a final conclusion. 

He took a sip out of his coffee, now finished, and poured into a delicate teacup from the cabinet above. Quite a different flavor than the cheap stuff he’s used to Kirigiri purchasing for him when he wins a faux-trial they would partake in at work. Winning against the Ultimate Detective was a rare occurrence, but when it did happen it was always nice for Kiri to give him a soft smirk and promise him a trip to the coffeehouse later.

Tonight their private outing was not at the local coffeehouse that was located next to their office, but instead to a fancy restaurant of Byakuya’s choosing. It was a bit off the path of their normal routes but he managed to convince her that the quality of the food was more than worth the efforts it would take to get there.

Quickly flipping his arm around to reveal his wristwatch from under his cuffed sleeve, he calculated that he had just enough time to stop at the local florist before taking his protected vehicle to the restaurant. He wanted to pick up one or two lavender tulips for Kiri as a gift, knowing they were her favorite.

Walking out of his door, he straightened his back and readjusted his tie before stepping out towards his car.

* * *

He walked in behind the waiter to find Kirigiri already sitting at the two-person booth he had reserved for them to share. As he approached the table, she turned to look up at him with a small smile on her face.

“Hello,” he greeted her with a slight bow of his head.

“The same to you,” she spoke as she repeated the gesture with a nod of her skull.

Byakuya walked around to the unoccupied chair that was pushed up against his spot at the table, pulling it out to his liking before elegantly sitting down in it.

“Pleasant evening, is it not?” He asked her.

His nerves had not yes dissipated as the beginning of the evening commenced, much to his disappointment. It felt so out of character of himself to be so shaken over something that had happened countless times before, though he assumed that this night held more weight over the others as it was given the title of “first date”.

“First date.” It felt so strange saying, or thinking he supposed, the words in relation to them. First dates were for anxious young adults who were meeting other strangers in cheap bakeries or cheesy movies, not for this pair who were pushing thirty and have been well versed with each other since high school. They already knew each other in and out, so the formalities they were exchanging at the moment as he awkwardly sat at the table across from her felt alien in his mouth when spoken to her.

She broke him out of his daze with a reply to his earlier question

“Yes, it is quite pleasant.”

As he broke his inattention and focused back on her the first thing he noticed was how seemingly calm she appeared. God, he must’ve looked like a mess next to her. All of the walls he carefully built up around himself come crashing down to her superior detective skills. She was able to pick him apart just by looking at him. He almost had a fondness for this aspect of her personality if he was not the victim of it so often, as he didn’t particularly enjoy being scrutinized by the one person he tries so hard to impress on a personal level.

He watched as she leaned down to grab the small hand purse she carries around with her on every excursion they take together.

“Here. I brought something for you”

Reaching into the bag, she came back with a small paper booklet that appeared to have some sort of writing on the cover.

“For old times sake”

She extended her hand across the table to hand the pamphlet to him, him reaching over his champagne glass to snatch it from her.

Looking down at what was written on it, he found himself letting out an audible gasp as he found himself looking down at an old picture of their entire class, the title of the book that seemed to be made with little scraps of paper and wrote out the words “High school memories”. One of Naegi’s art projects he would make with Asahina during crafts class.

“Where did you get this”

“Naegi,” she replied. “I was over visiting him last weekend and he gifted it to me. I figured that you would get more value out of it than I would, as I already have lots of high school memorabilia at my apartment.”

“Thank you” was all he could manage to mutter out in response as he stroked his finger down his thin teenage face. “We were so small back then” he laughed out as he started to flip through the book.

“Yes. Naegi still had his horrible jacket that we would wear daily back then,” she spoke as she leaned across the small square table to view the page Byakuya was on.

“God he wore that thing straight to the bone didn’t he.”

Pictures of Naegi’s classic high school look flooded through his mind as he reminisced upon their former classmate.

“I’m glad of his new choice of dress, I don't know how much longer I could’ve stood to watch him wear that horrid combo every day” she snickered.

It was true, Naegi’s common hoodie-and-blazer combo was quite harsh on the eyes, especially with the non-matching colours to pair. It was the subject of the teasing he received from the pair, though he always has quick comebacks criticizing their old personalities from their days as early high schoolers. Their jabs were always light hearted and never in mean spirit, keeping all of the conversations light and filled with quiet chuckles at their old selves.

chuckling as they reminisce on their younger selves.

Reaching down to place the little pamphlet that Naegi had made in years past into his bag, he was suddenly reminded of the small purple flower he had purchased for her on the way there.

He quickly grabbed it by the stem before pulling it out of the small pocket it was resting in and replacing it with the small booklet. He was disappointed to find that the delicate petals in the curled bulb at the top had been wilted a bit in the ride here, but he could live. The plant wasn’t staying in his possession much longer anyways.

“Here,” he said as he sat back up and handed it over the table to Kirigiri.

“Oh thank you. That’s very kind of you to think of.”

She smiled to herself as she took the flower from his hand and cradled it as she slowly placed it next to her soup spoon, taking extra care to not damage the flower any further.

“Reminds me of when we used to go down to the greenhouse together at Hope’s Peak.” She spoke. “Sakura was always the best at tending to the greenery there.”

“She really was. Little as she did to help anything of real importance”

“That was rude, especially since she covered your behind more times than I can count since you always felt the need to start pointless fights with the upperclassmen,” she chided in response. “It’s not like you could do much for yourself, it was a wonderful change seeing you finally accept that you needed friends.”

He scoffed at that, but one look at his face proved there wasn’t any malice behind it. His younger self would probably look down on him at that, believing him to be a lesser being for not fighting back at the clear insult. He’s glad he has grown past that, the intense repression of emotions masked with aggression. People genuinely care about him now, and it feels nice to love someone and have them love him back.

Kyouko and Naegi have been wonderful to him. He guesses he doesn’t deserve it, especially with how he treated them the first year they had together at Hope’s Peak, but between Naegi’s raw persistence when it came to making friends with everyone in the class, and Kirigiri’s ability to see past the aggressive front he put up for protection of his feelings they were able to stick around enough to earn his respect, and friendship. Kyouko especially, as the pair had been bonding from their coffee outings since high school, long before the competitive aspect was brought in with their shared detective job.

That being said, even the likes of Oogami held respect in his eyes, other than when she needed to save him from potential brawls. Her calm demeanor and evasion of conflict made her very enjoyable to be around, and she held up a pleasant conversation very well with her interests in flowers and clothing and her openness to Byakuya’s rambles about whatever the current true crime is, or the new serial killer on the loose.

Kirigiri offered a different type of conversation, but that didn’t mean it was any less enjoyable. The friendly banter that was offered when he spoke to Kiri was some of the best, as she was able to match his wit and intelligence level perfectly, even more than Naegi can, and he’s one of Byakuya’s favourite conversing partners other than the woman sitting in front of him. 

With that thought the waiter walked back around to their table, dropping two menus onto the plates in front of them. The gilded lining on the rough leather had been worn down a bit from years of use, but the shine still shone through the rough scratches that adorned its cover.

With the menus came two glasses of water, filled to the brim in polished wine glasses as they were placed onto the tale, leaving trails of condensation in their wake.

The waiter watched as they skimmed the menu quickly, each picking out a meal that suited their tastes.

“I’ll have the tofu kaiseki” spoke Kirigiri as she looked up from the menu that she was still holding in her gloved hands.

“And for you sir?”

Byakuya ordered next, answering the waiter's answer with ease. It was his favourite meal here, and a foreign one at that so he was able to exercise his proficiency at the french language to at least try to impress Kirigiri.

“That should be all, thanks.” Kirigiri had finished their orders with a gentle passing of the gilded menu to the waiter, who was now turned to face Byakuya, who tucked it under his arm.

_Darn her! She knew I wanted to order a drink._

With a slam of the menu Byakuya still had gripped tightly in his hands, he thrust it at the waiter who took it before turning and walking away.

Spinning his head around to face his date again, he took a deep breath to calm himself before questioning her on the matter.

“Why did you do that. You know I always order an extra drink.”

“I thought that we would do best tonight if we were both completely sober,” she replied calmly. “This is not a conversation done best intoxicated, plus I know how you get when you start to consume alcohol and I don’t want to have to deal with you crying all over my new skirt.”

“I’m not that bad…” He muttered under his breath as he folded his arms over his chest defensively, though when his frowned eyes rested back upon the detective's face, he found himself start to smile at her kind eyes.

“I want to talk about you and me. What would you want to define ‘us’ as?”

God. What a loaded question. It almost seemed rhetorical with the delivery of the sentence.

The air seemed to thicken around him as he carefully racked over his brain to think of what the most truthful answer to respond to her query would be.

“I would consider us datemates, are we not?” He finally spoke. “I mean we are on an official date right now, unless this was some elaborate play-date I wasn't told about.”

She kicked him under the table harshly with her boot at that comment, followed by a hearty chuckle. Good. The air suddenly felt 10 times lighter as he slowly breathed in. He was glad he was taking all of those therapy sessions, they've really helped with his emotional management in situations like this.

“I guess we are,” she spoke as a large grin spread across her face, stretching the pale pink lipstick she wore across her lips.

“Datemates…” The former hair chuckled at that. “I guess we are.”

She smiled at him again, tucking her chopsticks out from under her tray as the first part of her kaiseki was delivered to her, Byakuya's soon following.

The food took a bit longer to prepare than if he were just out with Naegi sharing a dish of sushi, but he didn’t mind. It was more time to spend with the person he enjoyed the most in life.

He let the light chatter and giggles of the evening set in as they tucked into the first round of their meal, letting the warmth from the relationship status confirmation wash over him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first post on this platform so comments and kudos are lovely to see :)!  
> [Follow me on Tumblr](https://tonaegiris.tumblr.com/)


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